Can We Stop With The Sexist T-Shirts For Little Girls?

The real mystery is why this keeps on happening.

By
Sam Lansky

Aug 07, 2013

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It looks like big stores didn't learn their lesson the first time they were dragged into the press over this issue back in 2011, when JCPenney came under fire for a "cute and sassy" t-shirt that read "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." (Note: This shirt was neither cute nor sassy.)

Yes, there's another groan-inducing scandal over a line of shirts being sold at popular kids' apparel retailer The Children's Place, which features a checklist marked "My best subjects" with checked boxes for shopping (fun!), music (love!) and dancing (same!). But the final box, next to math, is blank. Underneath, it reads in parentheses, "Well, nobody's perfect." C'mon, guys.

A photo of the shirt was posted to the store's Facebook page, inviting customer comments like this one: "This t-shirt sends a materialistic message dissuading girls who may enjoy math, and ingrains a distaste for science, computer science, engineering and other math-based fields by extension," a woman wrote. "You may argue, the girls for whom this t-shirt is intended aren't old enough to care; but I contend that messages are more powerful when the audience is young, and once a message is implanted, it's hard to reverse the negative associations." (That comment is super badass.) The store acted quickly to pull it from shelves and issued an apology.

Still, this has happened on so many occasions, from the "Allergic To Algebra" girls' jersey to the kids' t-shirt reading "Future Trophy Wife" (if you think I'm kidding, I'm not), whether they're being sold in the mainstream or elsewhere. Let's just stop. This isn't a difficult problem to solve. The solution is very clear: Don't make t-shirts implying that girls are dumb and inferior. That's it! It's literally exactly that simple. Make all the t-shirts you want. Be sassy! Be bold! Be fearless! Be edgy! Just don't be a dick and suggest that girls aren't good at math.

This shirt in particular extra-sucks because it goes even further to equate, say, ballet or playing the trumpet with shopping — none of which demand the same intellectual rigors and discipline as math, of course. (Some concert pianists might disagree with you.) Frankly, I don't know anyone who got into Juilliard because they clocked so many hours at the mall.

So let's put a moratorium on the implicitly misogynistic t-shirts reinforcing hideously outmoded gender roles and leave it at that.